Cold weather blows, but winter can be a blast — and it is, thanks to Quicken Loans Winter Blast Weekends. Entering its 14th year, the fest will switch to a four-weekend, totally free admission format this year, continuing the tradition of wintery, family-friendly programming full of marshmallow-roasting, ice sculptures, free ice skating (on the first and last weekends), zip-lining, a Polar Plunge to support the Special Olympics, and the return of a festival favorite, the 30-foot slide. This year’s musical lineup welcomes headliners Thornetta Davis and Laith Al-Saadi, DJs as part of the Movement Music Festival showcase, as well as 30 other artists.
free

Now that the international automotive media swarm is gone, Detroit's annual auto show opens to the public. This is one of the last years the long-running industry expo will be held in the winter; organizers are reportedly considering switching NAIAS to a warmer weather event.
$14

Ford Motor Co. is celebrating its recent acquisition of the old Michigan Central Station with a winter festival set to coincide with the North American International Auto Show.
Organizers say to expect a 3D-light show projected onto the historic building's facade, live painting, ice carving, fire pits and s'mores, and food trucks. History buffs, take note: The company will also display artifacts that have been scrapped, stolen, or otherwise removed from the long-abandoned train station, which have been coming out of the woodwork in recent months — including the once grand train station's historic clock that was anonymously given to the company after it purchased the building.
Free

Usually, when “Detroit” and “figure skating” share a sentence, the next names that usually follow are “Nancy Kerrigan” and “Tonya Harding.” Nearly 25 years since the infamous Cobo Arena knee-bashing (which also perhaps cemented the word “Whyyyyyy!” in pop culture history), the U.S. Figure Skating Championships returns to the city with a triple-axle-landing vengeance. The 2019 iteration will post up at Little Caesars Arena for a six-day, 15-session event during which champions will be crowned in women, men, pairs, and ice dance categories at Junior and Senior Championship levels. What’s at stake? Well, it’s the final qualifying event to determine the U.S. teams eligible for Olympic competition, that’s what.
$15+

Interested in how fashion is tailored to constrict the female figure and ultimately, to transform it, the artist borrows techniques and materials from garment-making to create forms that evoke fashion but function instead as sculpture and space.
Free admission